There will be not important differences respect the past year in matter or curriculum, pretty much we will keep the same books. The new is that this year, I will ask Octavio to take more responsibility in the lessons; for example, from now on he will make most of the reading of instruction and content. I will be only helping him when a explanation of concept or instructios are necessary.

PROGRAM – FIFTH SCHOOL YEAR – GRAMMAR STAGE:

MORINING SESSIONS (5 days per week, weekend off):

-Reading: I keep reading at loud from Literature/ Bible and mixed subjects.-Dictation: One page in cursive, usually it takes 15 minutes. I will keep copy the book Advice to the Young by Noah Webster.-Octavio’s reading aloud: 15 minutes per day, about full three page of small print.-Spelling: Continue with Spelling Power starting on Level F (about 10 minutes per day).-Composition:Understanding Writing, starting on Level 4-Memorization: Selection of pieces in English, Spanish and classic languages.-Latin:Visual Latin: Starting on Lesson 18-Greek:Elementary Greek Year 2, Starting in Lesson 23,-Hebrew:The First Hebrew Primer ( This book now has booklet with answers and flash card, that make everything much easier)-Arabic: Octavio will continue in the Arabic School, receiving 3 hours of Arabic per week.-Pre-Logic/Mathematics:Mathematical Reasoning Level D, starting in page 144, two pages per day until finish the book, then move to the 4th Grade book.-History: 30 minutes per day. Continue using Mystery of History Series.-Science: We will continue using God’s Design for Science Series, complementing with Lab practices and and experiments in other areas.-Art and Music: In Free Time

Perla,
Can you give me a little review about God’s Design for Science. How does it compare to Apologia Exploring Creation Elementary Series. I’m thinking of using God’s Design with my oldest this year because he is interested in Physics and Chemistry and Jeannie won’t have those books published until next year. I’ve loved over the AIG series when we went to the Creation Museum this spring, but it was so crowded in the bookstore that I couldn’t take my time. It didn’t look as apealing as Apologia or as indepth. I guess that is my concern. Is it pretty indepth? As you know Jeannie’s books are pretty indepth. God’s Design just looks like a book of experiments with little explanation, but I could be wrong in my assessment hence needing an opinion from someone who has/is using it. Thanks!

Perhaps the authors will not agree with me, but, in my experience, those books are for different categories of ages. Both authors did a great job and I will recommend both set of books to any one starting homeschooling with young children. The God’s Design for Science is for the youngest, perhaps from preschool to around 9 years old. Exploring Creation is for older children, perhaps older than 10 or 12, children that are in the logic stage and that have more time to spend in experiments, reports, etc.

One way to see it, it is comparing the amount of materials: Animals it is covered in God’s Design for Science in a 140 pages books (soft cover, medium size print), Animals is covered in Exploring Creation in 3 volumes, hard cover, full size pages, with more than 250 pages each. Each lesson in God’s Design for Life ended with 3 or 4 easy question, and sometimes, an extra lecture in the topic (one page). Exploring Creation have a whole list of activities, long questionnaires, investigations, writing reports, etc.

I tried with Exploring Creation, and when it came the time to make the activities, they were too much for Octavio. With enough time for science, I think, a young child will be able to follow the curriculum as is, but who can spend 3 hours per day in sciences the whole school year? An older child, who is not learning basic skills (reading, writing, composition) can follow the Exploring Creation by himself and extract all the benefits of the curriculum. In the other size, an older children will be able to read and learn the whole text of God’s Design in a couple of days; it will be too little for him, it will not challenge him.

Perla,
Alex is 11, technically in 6th grade. We never do all the activities in the Exploring Creation books. I usually just chose 1 to do and we usually did not do the notebooking pages except for 1 or 2 lessons for me to keep for their portfolio. Thank you for the review of God’s Design. I am a little surprised about the age recommendation. I thought it went up to 8th grade. I think I will probably just wait until Jeannie publishes the physics and chemistry book. Alex really wants to do physics. This year I will do the Anatomy book. Alex has the notebooking journal and he will complete that, but I think I will just read and do 1 experiment per lesson with the younger kids. I may also focus more on nature study for my 3 younger kids who are 6, 8 and 9. I may try to fit in the physics and chemistry book during next summer before I start Alex in Apologia General Science for 7th grade. I know there Real Science for Kids has a physics book that we tried a few years ago and didn’t like, maybe I”ll check into that again.

Dear Perla,
I have been following your blog for some time and you are a great inspiration to me and a great
resource.
Can you, please, tell me what book did you use to teach cursive writing at the very beginning?
Also, what is the best children encyclopedia for a 3 years old?
How do you organize Octavio’s day?
How do you find time for your hobbies?
This is my first year of homeschooling…

I cannot recommend an encyclopedia in particular. I myself, do not own one. When I am ready to buy a book, usually I will go for primary resources. Of course, there are nice “children encyclopedia” kind of books, they are full of nice pictures and little bits of information. I buy all what the budget can effort. When my son was 3 years old his favorite books where about animals, especially fish. As he grows, his interest has changed. My suggestion is to take your little one to the bookstore and let him choose. Each year the editorials come with nicer, better quality images, internet bonus, etc.
If in the book are things which I do not agree (evolution, historic revisionism or propaganda), I am careful to point it out to my son.

Daily Organization:

I do not organize my son’s day. I give him lessons in the morning (it take us about 3 hours, some days less, some days more). Then he take his lunch and pretty must he is free to do whatever he want, that goes from play logos or any other toy, play outside, watch a videos, use his computer, read, paint, etc. Recently I hire a piano teacher that come to home one hour per week, but that is.

Personal Hobbies:

The homeschooling take average 3 hours per day. After the lessons, I spend some times preparing the meals, and making other house’s chores. When I finish with the house chores, I read, answer emails, search in the internet (I like find new recipes), make cookies (this is my hobby). Sometimes, on Thursdays, if my husband is in home, Octavio stay here and I can go to the beauty salon and make some shopping. Usually, on Friday, we go to the supermarket and we dinner outside.

The first year of homeschooling is about learn and try new things. As the times goes by, you will win experience, you will know what works and what do not works, your child will mature and each day he will become more independent in his/her learning. You will relax and have time for many things. Octavio, my son, make his math, spelling and copy work while I am drying my hair, he reads about science and other topics while I am putting on my makeup

Remember to teach your child discipline and obedience to the first time. That will make everything easier for you and him/her, now, in the homeschooling years and later in his/her adult life.

Perla,
Thank you so much for your detailed reply. When Octavio was 3 years old, did he have a lot of social activities with other kids?
I am trying to see how much socializing my son needs now when he is 3 and how to balance everything in his schedule…
Also, i noticed that you have a daily homeschooling plans. Do you write them in detail for every day or just in general for the whole year?
Thank you again very much!
Beatrice

Octavio did not have a lot of social activities with other children, not when he was 3, not now. I myself, and my husband, do not have a lot of social activities with other people of our age. Even so, we are considered very social people. Social interaction is something related to circumstances, it’s happen. We (my husband and I) do not force our self into have certain amount of hours per week of social activities with other people just because. In the same manner, we do not artificially program hours of social interaction for our son.

Since, we are Christians, we considered that the Bible’s model for friendship and relation is superior to the secular approach. In our philosophy, the relations need to have a purpose; they must be for mutual edification. Enjoyment is the fruit of a healthy relation, it is not the purpose.

Octavio, my son has many friends; he is always ready to play with anyone without discrimination of age. Some of my husband’s friends are also my son’s friends. We do not choose friends by age.
If you want to know more about my personal approach to socialization, I refer the book the The Socialization Trap

About the Daily Homeschooling Plan, it is actually is a record of what we cover each day per subject. I wrote it after we finish each lesson.

Thank you so much, Perla!
Intuitively I felt exactly the same about social life as you say but I just felt pressure because all other mothers emphasized it so much. Thank you for the book reference. Once again, you are a great resource! Thank you for sharing!

Yes, this is so true, Perla. I guess in my case it also has to do with not knowing myself well and not trusting my intuition when needed. But I hope to improve:)
I have one more question on my mind: Do you have a nanny for Octavio? I have someone part time for my son but I am not sure it is right since he gets a lot of influence which is not exactly what I want to see. Sorry if I ask silly questions…

No, I do not have a nanny, and I hope never to need one. I only trust Octavio to my mother, mother in law and sister in law. Of course, there are situation where help is necessary, as when there are not relatives around, the mother is injury in the hospital, the father is taking care of the mother and the little ones need an adult that take care of the basic necessities. Also, in some case, both parent needs to work outside the house to make it to the end of the month with the bills, but rather than those extreme situations, I do not understand why a woman want to leave her children with other person. I respect other people style of life, but I will have not peace not knowing what is going on with my child. I just cannot imagine.

Hi Perla,
Thank you again for your reply. My husband is at work from 9 am till 10:30 pm. He has his own acupuncture practice and it requires a lot of time from him. We have no relatives living near by. I was about to go into math Phd when I got pregnant so my life changed a lot after I had my son and decided to stay home with him. It took me a while to accept my situation because of my own ego. I guess emotionally I was tired and hired a part time nanny to do something for myself- I started to take Chinese lessons and I also began to write. But somehow my heart is not at peace and my progress with Chinese and writing are not so great either. I waste a lot of time, while my child is with someone else for whom he is just a job. At the same time I spent a lot of time for cleaning, cooking and laundry. So, overall I feel that I have my resources misplaced. Simple practical suggestions or comments help me a lot to figure this out. I have a lot of freedom and flexibility and support from my husband and I just need to put all the pieces together. It might be trivial for other stay home moms but I really need some insight

Be trivial is the aptitude about the things we do, has nothing to do with the place of work. Nobody needs to be a trivial housewife, some are, but some other women take the job to a very high level. It Is your decision to be a trivial housewife, or to make your house and dishes worthy of appear in Better Home and Gardens.

Manage a house, even a small house; take many work, planning and intelligence. Places as Pinterest.com give inspiration and ideas about what other ladies are doing.

About to have a nanny so you can continue studding and have time for yourself, nobody can really tell you, it depend of your priorities in life. Is to learn Chinese more important that spend time with your child? The benefits of you learning that language compensate the risks of your child in other people hands? Since your husband gives you that freedom to decided, only you can tell.

In my case, so far, I did not find anything that I cannot do from home or together with my son (to learn Chinese together with your child can be a very nice experience). In the other side, there is always time in the future to get a PhD, but your child will be little just now. They grow fast.

Make your list of priorities, and take your decision in base of that. There are opinions in different directions, resist the temptation to follow opinions, it is better follow your priorities.

Perla,
Thank you so much again for your reply. I think I did not explain myself clearly when I said that it is trivial for other stay home moms. I meant that it is easy for them to educate their child and manage their household nicely but for me even small things like discipline, house chores and whether or not to have a nanny are big issues:) so I am looking for insight from other moms.
I feel blessed that I have this opportunity to be with my son and bring him up in the best possible way because I feel that the potential is limitless. I made mistakes in the beginning because I was enfluenced by other people too much ( even my priest said to me that I had to have a nanny and go to work and that it was not normal to stay home like that). Anyway, my son will be 3 in February and at this point I am trying to get rid of anything that has not come from my heart. I absolutely agree with you about nannies and I guess I just needed to hear it from someone with more experience and great results in homeschooling to confirm it. I enjoy reading your replies because you can see things through. Thank you again- you helped me clear a lot of confusion within myself!

All of us make many mistakes in the beginning. The problem are not the mistakes, the problem is recognize the mistake and do nothing about it. If you keep going and learning everything will be fine. Homeschooling benefits more the parents than for the children

Ps: Your priest is not well informed. In a 2005 study, the U.S. Census Bureau reported an estimated 5.6 million stay-at-home moms. That is a 22% increase from 1994.

Women working outside the house are a new thing. In 6000 thousand years of history, only in the last few centuries we see women going out to work and let the children in institutions.

In those days of economic crisis, is the blessing that your husband can provide enough so you can stay in home, it is almost like a luxury.

Hi Perla,
You said it wonderfully about homeschooling benefiting parents more than children. I can definitely feel it!
Yes, I know the website you mention. I read the free articles they have and the beginner chapters. I do not have the book though.
Do you think it is a must to have? from your experience…
Also, recently I started to feel that going to the city playgrounds ( we live in NYC) might not be a good idea, especially when it is crowded. There are many kids with all kinds of backgrounds and upbringings and sometimes I see that my child feels los
t and I see contradictions to my own philosophy of discipline and social behavior. Did you take Octavio to public playgrounds?
Thank you for being generous with your replies!
All the best!

Hello Beatrice:
I do not think you must to have any particular book, except the Bible. But, it is wise to have a good library to take ideas and experience, from that point of view ,Teaching The Trivium is a valuable resource.
In Saudi Arabia, the weather is hot most of the year, so there is not room for many outdoor activities. Sometimes, we go to indoor amusement parks and when the weather allows we go to some outdoor public toys. Also, when we are in vacation, if there are parks near, we visit it, but it is not something we do in a regular bases.

Octavio, as any other child enjoys playing with other kids. But when a child become aggressive or do not want to share a toy, Octavio knows that the wise thing to do is let that child alone and play with others. As long you are couching your child while interact with other, I do not see a problem playing in public areas. I will never leave Octavio without a close supervision while playing with other kids, not even if other parents are near ( close means a couple of meters away, eye contact all the time).

As you say, each child has different background, and each family has different philosophies about what is proper behavior. If I see bad behavior in other kid, I point it out to Octavio and we move to another place. I never correct other kid’s behavior.

TWTM is a secular book about Classical Education. I have it, I have read it, but I do not use any of its ideas. I consider that Teaching The Trivium has a superior approach to Homeschooling in a classical style.

There is nothing writing in stone about how to homeschooling. There are many approaches, many styles, many programs, curriculums, etc. I think it is wise to investigate all of them and then choose what better apply to our personal situation. TWTM does not apply to my system of believers and objectives, but there are families happy with it.

Yes, it is a secular book, they advice that each family should have their own time for religion based in their own believes. The book point out which curriculums are religious, so the parents can decide to use them or use the alternatives they listed.

In general it is a good book, many Christian like it. Personally I do not use it.

Hello, Perla, it was so good to read the previous comments! I have a question.

We have a meeting once a year with other pastor-families, and we spend two days together. Parents talk, children play. There is no strict program. My daughter usually wants to be with the other girls *who attend school) and they always mocking on my daughter for something, like: my daughter does not have a cell phone because she does not need it, but the other girls have very expensive ones. The whoel day looks like this: staying in a room and playing on cell phones. My daughter made her own cell phone of cardstock because she likes to play with it, but of course they mocked on her. I told her not to talk to those girls, but most of the girls were in the same room doing the same thing

There was another situation: in our church there are many young mothers who organize bible/clubs for children. My children go only twice a year to the one-week program (in the mornings) because they see that everybody is there. But again the other girls are mocking at my daughter and saying very ugly things about her

My actual question is: Does she need to train herself in situations when she has to defend herself? Or it is better just to avoid such situations? Perhaps you know what society says: she needs to defend herself.

As a general rule, I will keep my son (and myself) far from any bad influence. I do not allow him to relate to children that does not have good manners and even worse, cruel children. I do not have myself bad mannered friends or cruel friends. There are social situation where we must to be with such kind of people (public places, jobs situations) but there is always the option to avoid them in a polite manner.

In the particular case you mentioned, there is a big problem of cruelty. It looks like those girls are saying such thing with the intention to hurt your daughter. I am pretty sure, Johanna does not need that. Nobody needs that.

If you must attend such meeting, perhaps it is better Johanna stay with you. If you have a close relation with the mothers of those girls, you can tell them about it in a relax manner, depend of their reaction (apologize for their daughters, or do not show any care to the problem) you can evaluate if it is a good use of your time attend those meetings.

How do you will react in a situation where somebody tells you ”Eszter, you do not need a Chanel dress because you do not attend luxury restaurants?” It does not matter if the fact is true or false, it is a matter of cruelty.

To avoid cruel people is a wise way to learn to survive. To learn to choose friends is a wise way to learn how to survive. What are the other option? Fight with them? Enter in useless discussion?

Proverbs 9:6-7 Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot.

There are wonderful people in the World; we need to teach our children to be selective and careful when it comes to have friends.

Hello,
what Perla says is very interesting. Of course society is telling you: if your children are with other children they will learn the ways of the children and act according to those rules. It never occurs to society to think: I don´t need this. Now that I think of it, it makes real sense. It is intelligent and humble.